MAKING MONEY WITH MUSIC

Imagine you just clicked "Submit" for worldwide distribution on your next EP and scheduled it to come out in six weeks to give you time to send prerelease copies to music reviewers. You've been announcing it for a while to your fans via social media, which has generated good buzz. You also send a note to your top patronage funders that they will have access to the EP a week early, plus get bonus material, and tell the lower-tier funders they can do the same if they choose a higher tier to get the rewards. Your patronage is contributing enough of your monthly income to cover your rent.

Next, you log in to your performance rights organizations (PROs) and discover your streaming royalties are up this quarter; plus, you're getting more foreign royalties due to your last single catching on in the Netherlands. A DJ there loved one of your songs (you found him on the internet playing similar artists and you reached out to him), and thanks to him and his audience, it caught on in the region. You know this because you check your social media stats weekly and pay attention to where your fans are located. Plus, your social alert tools tell you when you are mentioned on websites or social media, and you saw a bunch of new posts about your music. According to the other stats sites, not only did your current song do well but there's more streaming of your back catalog too.

Taking a look at the video stats reminds you to also check your YouTube advertising revenue, which is doing well, but bonus income is coming from a fan-made animated music video that generated millions of views. Even though the fan used your music without asking you, you think the video is great; plus, because you registered your song with YouTube, you get the ad revenue from it.

After that, you check a licensing service you signed up for a couple of months ago and discover a TV show licensed one of your songs. The licensing fees will get deposited in your bank account, and yet all you did was upload a few of your tracks to their online music library. A TV music supervisor discovered it on her own and loved the track for her show, and the site handled the transaction and license for you. You check out another service you use and find out the beats, presets, and stems you created for the last release — the same one which took off in the Netherlands — is also selling. Turns out you have a dedicated set of musician fans who love buying what you created to use in their own music. You just uploaded them and announced they were available, and you can make more income off the same release.

Thinking about your last release reminds you to upload it to the vinyl crowdfunding site and announce it to your fans. The production run only gets made if the funding is reached, but once it does, you don't need to do anything — it automatically gets created and shipped to those who paid for it. Your fans funded the last two, so you think it's likely they'll fund this one too, and all you had to do was upload it and announce it.

Next, you take a look at the income you made from last night's live show. Not only did you sell out your show, your merch did well; you even sold two of your custom-decorated, high-quality, one-of-a-kind jackets for $250 each. There are always a few die-hard fans who love these custom items. You also see your pay-per-view income is up. The venue provided cameras and an audio feed from the soundboard, allowing you to sell access to a stream of your concert. Your fans on the internet, found all over the world (including the Netherlands), love watching your performances and chatting with one another on the feed even though they can't come to the show. In fact, some of the fans at the show bought the recording as well.

Then, before you head back to the studio to work on more music, you submit your set list to your PRO so you can get performance royalties out of the show as well.

You don't need to imagine this. You can do this for your music, today.

The example above, with its multiple, parallel income streams, shows just a fraction of what's possible today for your own music business. The power to get your music out to the world, find an audience, and make money is within your reach.

In fact, there are many advantages to today's music world you can use for your own music:

1. You have access to free or inexpensive music/video production technology to express and create your art.

Previously, only very expensive studios could record professional tracks or make video. But today, a smartphone has recording and editing capabilities that entire studios lacked before. Plus, many of the tools are inexpensive or even free. Musicians only need to decide they want to make music or videos: the technology is no longer a barrier.

2. You have a world hungry for fresh new music, content, and entertainment.

Nearly everyone is carrying a device that can let them experience your work, and they're spending most of their day using it to find new entertainment, news, and distractions. The addictions people have to their phones can work for you if you can give them what they want.

3. You have access to a universe of music and business services, tools, and other partners who want to help artists succeed.

Everything a label did for musicians is now available to you from free or inexpensive services you can tap into. This means you can handle music production, marketing, promotion, publicity, tour support, funding, and more. Plus, you'll get to retain the rights to your music and collect all the income your music generates. In fact, this book covers hundreds of services, sites, and tools that can help you succeed at every aspect of your music business. This will allow you to build a profitable business with just a small team, making signing to a label an optional choice.

4. You can distribute your music/videos worldwide in an instant.

Today, you can get your music and videos in streaming services, sales platforms, music and video sites, and stores more quickly and cheaply than ever before. And some of these options are free.

5. You have more places to get your music/videos discovered, heard, and seen by more people across the globe than ever before in...